Watching the movie, I realized that I didn't sympathize with any of the characters. I guess we're supposed to root for Gwyneth Paltrow's character, but I didn't. Her character was dull. As was the guy who she was having an affair with. The characters were so boring, the only one that interested me was that of the villain, as played by Michael Douglas. He's so good in those roles where he's the heartless, rich bastard. True, that's pretty much all he's been doing lately, but so what? He's great doing it!
Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen (her lover) are good in their roles, but the characters were written too blandly for them to do anything with them. She's proven to be a really good actress, and he impressed the hell outta me in the underrated "G.I. Jane." These two deserved better. It was written by Patrick Smith Kelly, and this is his feature film debut as a writer. He's not a horrendous writer or anything, but I think that when he works on his next screenplay, he should focus more energy on character development.
"A Perfect Murder" was directed by Andrew Davis, the same guy who directed "The Fugitive," and he's also the only man who directed a good Steven Seagal movie ("Under Siege"). He's a good director who knows how to build suspense, but this movie was just a bit too slow.
Michael Douglas
is this movie's saving grace. As a matter of fact, I always knew he was
a good actor, but this movie showed me HOW good. He rose above the material
to be the most watchable person in the movie. Other than his performance
though, this movie is far from Hitchcock-caliber.